A very Unhasty Conversation
by Ringwraith9
Summary: The ents get a message about the ent wives.I have revised the chapters and combined the shorter ones into one chapter.
1. Default Chapter

** I do not own LOTR or any of its characters. This work should not be published for profit or in association with the real LOTR series.  
  
" If I am not mistaken," said the large tree ," your feet do not feel like the feet of any squirrel that has trod upon my bark before." And indeed if any mistakes were made it would have been excusable for not many things were as they appeared in Fangorn Forest. For this was no ordinary tree, but an ent;Bregalad, a survivor of the battle of Orthanc in which the ents had crumbled the fortress of Saruman the White. And the squirrel was Rhadaghast the Brown, one of the few wizards remaining in Middle Earth after the War of the Ring. "Well met ,"said the jovial, amber robed man now sitting on the uppermost branch of Bregalads leafy, maple-like foliage. " I see the wits and intuition of the ents have not lessened with the passing of ages since I last traveled to this part of the land. As ents are such unhasty conversationalists, and as I am the unbidden guest of your person, I shall introduce myself first." He continued," I , Rhadaghast the Brown, have come to speak with Treebeard, master of Fangorn Forest. I have come to deliver the last message of he that the elves name Mithrandir, which he left with Tom Bombadil before departing Middle Earth."  
  
  
  
Here is the 2nd chapter I hope to make the format much more readable.  
  
" Hroom," said Bregalad," More ancient beings than I have thought all wizards vacated from Middle Earth. I am most pleased that for once we Ents were too hasty. But as always we welcome our former allies and I, a notoriously impatient ent, hunger for news of the last Tidings of Mithrandir. If it is not unwise, perhaps you could tell me something more of them as we journey towards the home of Treebeard." " It concerns the ent wives," said Rhadaghast shortly. At this the amazement of Bregalad stopped all speech and they continued on in silence. Treebeard sent forth messengers at once saying only that all ents should gather close to Fangorn to hear news, which concerned them all. And for many days ents came pouring into the region of the forest. An observer would have thought the plates of Middle Earth were moving as seemingly whole forests of tall ents, gray broadleaved ents, large, evergreen ents, and even white flowered,oakish ents shifted southwards.  
  
When, at last, they all seemed to have arrived there began one of the longest Entmoots since the passing of the elder days. The ents had waited long for news of their kindred and explanations for the abrupt disappearance and long absence of the entwives. Thus, Rhadaghast the Brown was forewarned of what to expect. But even the wise, patient Rhadaghast began to lose his temper over the oncoming weeks. They broke only for meals and rest. (For we must at all times think rationally they thought. And even ents are not at their best when sleepy.) They questioned poor Rhadaghast about all he knew and what he couldn't have known and what was perhaps best not known at the time. Finally when they had learned all they could of the wizard, this is what they found out.  
  
The Mallorn Trees  
  
In the time before the War of the Ring, the ents had become somewhat estranged from the ent wives, although they were still great friends and visited each other often, or as often as such great territorial separation allowed. And being thus alone, the ent wives came under attack from a great band of orcs. Although, for the most part, they escaped with their lives; they no longer felt safe in their homes and set off at once seeking protection. Fleeing to their ancient friends, the elven race of Lothlorien,they beseeched Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel for aid. They gladly consented ,both out of love for the ent wives and for the incomparable beauty such guests would bring to their native land. For the ent wives resembled the most beautiful of trees of every variety ; but were gifted with perfect symmetry and beautiful draping flowers, which bloomed year round. So the years passed and the ent wives stayed and the legend of the magnificence of Lothlorien grew. Also,by some association with these elves they grew even more beautiful and began producing golden blooms and leaves. However, they became very lonely. Without the conversation of the ents, they grew more treeish and soon stopped speaking altogether. The elves, believing this was their wish, had not disturbed the Mallorn trees for some years. But now the time of the elves was passing, as was Lothlorien, and the ent wives must be revived. 


	2. Treebeard's Son

Treebeards Son  
  
But why had the ent wives not returned to the ents in their distress? This was the question on the minds of the ents and the question that Rhadaghast was the most hesitant to answer. For twenty human years there had been no entings. This was hardly odd given the scarcity of the ent's visits. Because of this, there had been no dispute over who should raise the entings, as neither party was willing to live with the other. But it seems after the long drought of enting seedlings that a veritable flood of ent wives conceived in a short period of time.  
  
The ent wives were still debating over what should be done on the matter (They had plenty of time for ent wives do not drop their seedlings for years.) when the orcs attacked. Suddenly, the ent wives realized their plight. All of Middle Earth was in danger. If they returned now, to the ents it would be seen as a permanent concession. Also, who could say anyone would be able to stand against the might of Sauron?  
  
Thus the ent wives reached a hurried decision. The Lady Galadriel, who understood such maternal matters, would look after the entings. During this time, the ent wives would fall into a treeish sleep. One special enting would be planted in the furthest reaches of the land where the devastation of war would reach last. If men triumphed, this enting would grow into an ent and sing the song, which would awaken the ent wives. If Middle Earth failed, Galadriel would flee over the sea taking the remaining entings with the race of Lorien.  
  
Silver Oak watched the hobbit children skip around him holding hands and singing. It could not compare with entish singing, but that was so long ago. His mother used to sing lengthy, delightful chants to him in entish before he was dropped and given over to the elves. It was a proper song, not like these rushed hobbit verses. The song called all of the ent wives by their natural name and might take weeks to sing. Silver Oak never heard his real name anymore; for Galadriel had cautioned him that he should never reveal it when he first traveled to the Shire. Not that any of these silly hobbits had the capacity to remember a name of any substantial length. Nevertheless, he loved them; especially Sam, his kind transplanter. Sometimes Sam even talked to him as though he knew that Silver Oak was no normal tree. He talked to him about oliphaunts and elves and the land of Lorien. And although he never spoke back ( The hobbits of the Shire could not have tolerated such queerness) he would occasionally caress the top of his curly graying head with a stray limb. Yes, Silver Oak loved the Shire but he knew that the time was approaching when he must leave. 


	3. Treebeards Quest formatted

Treebeards Quest  
  
Treebeard's thoughts were his own. What he felt upon learning that his only child had been kept hidden from him and posted as the last sentry of the entwives, he kept to himself. His sole duty was to find his enting and wake the forest of Lorien before the departure of the elves from middle earth. Although the ents were a close race, the ent wives outnumbered the ents many times. (This was largely due to the murderous acts of the orcs and the casualties of the War of The Ring.) And none of the ents could be sure to remember the proper names of all the ent wives, save Treebeard's son who had been taught them in The Song of Reawakening almost from conception.  
  
Treebeard, Bregalad and two of their companions would set out for the Shire, while the remainder of the ents would stand guard at Lorien, watching the entwives as the elves prepared for their western journey. In Lothlorien, the Lady Galadriel was preparing for her visitors. Many elves had built their flets in the lesser Mallorn trees that supplanted Lothlorien before the arrival of the ent wives. Now however the ent wives and the lesser Mallorns were nearly indistinguishable. Seeing that it wouldn't do for the ents to get the wrong idea, and seeing how some of the ents might take offense at the idea of building homes in trees in any case; Galadriel ordered that the flets be dismantled. Until the time of their departure, the elves of Lorien would sleep on the earth as other creatures did. If the weather had been colder or if the elves had loved their lady less there might have been more groaning than there was. As it was, the elves slept where they happened to be lying after the singing and dining ,dreaming of their return to the haven across the sea. 


	4. Ents in Numenor

Final chapter  
  
No I still haven't bought LOTR rights, as I am not rich yet. So I am still writing about Tolkiens work.  
  
Treebeard left from Fangorn forest, unbeknownst to him, at the same time that Silver  
  
Oak set out from the Shire. Both met with many complications. The remaining orcs still  
  
at large were a nuisance and danger to all but especially to the ents who helped engineer  
  
their defeat. Also many of the hobbits and men were suspicious and dismayed to meet  
  
strange species following the War of The Ring. The educated few remembered the role of  
  
the ents and paid due respect, but by and large Treebeard and his followers met with  
  
stony silence and suspicious glares. " Alas ", said Treebeard," it is the way of war to  
  
breed distrust of the hero along with the villain.  
  
Treebeard met with Silver Oak at the site of Tom Bombadils rescue of the hobbits from  
  
the ancient tree of the forest.  
  
So Treebeard learned as much of the way of Modern middle earth from Silver Oak as  
  
Silver oak learned of the ways of the ents from his father.  
  
Instinctively, Silver Oak knew of the duty he must perform for his mother and the  
  
remaining ents wives. And so he sang the Song of Reawakening and Lothlorien  
  
experienced a second spring that year as the Mallorns shed their golden leaves and grew  
  
anew the green sprouts of their birth as the longest song in ent hnbistory washed over the  
  
land with the breeze. And whatever business started that day was filled with the hope of  
  
success ingrained in each newborn creature.  
  
Luckily for the ent wives the ents forgave the deception they had practiced in concealing the entings, for life alone had made them much more negotiable and forgiving.  
  
But what of the prophecy that the ents would only reunite when they possessed no  
  
home on middle earth? Well it did not take long for the ents to understand that this time  
  
had come. With the passing of the elves the ent wives had no garden to separate them  
  
from their kin and with the growing suspicion of the hobbit and human kind, the ents no  
  
longer felt welcome among men. Therefore, shortly after the beginning of the Fourth age  
  
the ents vacated Middle Earth with the other ancient races of the world and came to  
  
reside in the long lost kingdom of Numenor, which even the Elder, could not keep  
  
drowned with the tides forever. And so knowledge of the ents passed from the remaining  
  
races of middle earth except for in the heart of one special hobbit that was called Sam  
  
who passed on the legend that is here recorded. 


End file.
